Tell me how you turned your health around!

[HeyDougie]

I’m at an all time low about my health and appearance. I’m 64 and about four stones overweight. It’s just accumulated over the past 15 years if I’m honest and it makes me utterly miserable. I hate the way I look and it makes me avoid doing a lot of things as a result. I lost two stones fifteen years ago and was a size ten, but I cannot motivate myself this time. I’ve had enormous amounts of stress in my life and feel like I’ve been fire fighting for a long time.

I am pre diabetic and have high cholesterol. I am afraid for my health. I lack energy and drive and feel exhausted a lot of the time. In general my life isn’t the way I would want it to be but until I get my weight and health back under control I can’t see the rest of my life improving.

I need some encouragement and motivation. Tell me how you turned your life around and what helped you do it. I lost about ten pounds around Xmas due to a virus but it’s all come back in due to various reasons and I’m so annoyed with my myself. My self esteem is rock bottom. I walk several times a week but it’s just not enough. I have back issues so swimming and weightlifting are out .

Swimming stopped drinking mounjaro and no snacking. Health improved immeasurably.

I signed up to ZOE. I did it for health reasons and was pleased to find I gradually lost 1.5 stone (and still losing). Reducing carbs and sugar has reduced inflammation in my joints. I have much more energy. Learning how my body processed food helped me make better choices. Best Christmas present I ever bought. (Have a dog so walk every day and also have an active job.)

Bump

I haven’t done it yet, but I need to lose weight. I know I have medical issues that are all linked by one main thing - me being fat.

Im trying currently to change my outlook on food and to go swimming more often. I’m also considering trying mounjaro

I would give anything to go back to Aqua aerobics in the water, it is not quite like swimming and I found it gentle, now I'd be lucky to get out of the babies/shallow pool by next year but I'm determined. I use to moan and not be convinced about swimming with back pain but it is worth the agony now with a lower limb injury.

I found this today, which looks exciting.
Exercise Vibration Plate | 99 Intensity Levels & 6 Modes | WeightWorld

Try not to do to much to soon, anyone can have their health set back.

I'm (almost) 62 and had my second ever gym visit this morning – absolutely loving in. I gave up biscuits and chocolate over a year ago but have been mysteriously packing on weight and need to lose 6kg (yes, it's only a stone but it's important).

It's my birthday at the end of August so I want to be down by 3kg and noticeably more toned by then. Fingers crossed.

You could also try Intermittent Fasting. Look it up - don't eat anything between 6pm and 12pm the next day. Only drink black tea, black coffee or water. Eat between midday and 6pm. Normally. Try it for two weeks and see what happens. Walk loads and try to be as active as possible. I'm losing 2 to 3lb a week and I'm only half a stone overweight..

Then do what others have said above - work up your exercise and strength training over a year ideally with help from a PT.

I lived with my a member of my family for a few months some years ago. I'm slim but my relative has always been very overweight. She has repeatedly tried crash diets, lost a great deal of weight only then to put it back on again. She walks for an hour a day. Before I lived with her, I couldn't understand why she was so heavy with that level of exercise and given her diet is healthy, home made food with no fizzy drinks, takeaways or cakes etc. But it transpired it was all down to portion sizes, my relative eating considerably larger portions than I could physically manage to eat.
I think this could be your starting point. Set yourself a goal of reducing your portion size by 10%. Weigh yourself at the beginning and again a month later and see how many 1lbs you lose. Let your body get used to this for another month then increase it to 15% and so on.

Slow, steady incremental steps.

I've not always been slim, I was a fat, comfort-eating teenager up to the age of 18 but slow and steady is how I lost weight and once I'd lost it, I became determined to keep it off. That's not to say I don't put on a few pounds here and there from overindulging at Christmas or in hot periods of weather from eating ridiculous quantities of Gelato, but then I just tell myself "enough now" and I go back to normal, sensible, healthy eating. I have a switch in my brain now which I didn't have as a teenager. My relationship with food has completely changed. Food is no longer for comfort, it's for sufficient quality fuel to keep me healthy and give me enough energy to do everything I need to do physically and mentally in any given day.

You can do this, OP. Keep us posted with how you get on.

Just a word of warning for people suggesting gym for weight loss.

You are in for the long run. Muscle is heavier than fat, so you might feel you are not losing weight at all, especially in the first few months.

I've transformed my fitness since January this year. I've tried many times before but would constantly get injured and the injuries would put me out of action for 6 months plus so I'd lose any fitness I'd gained.

This time I started just with aquafit. Perfect, gentle supported exercises with very low risk of injury. The class I go to is pretty full on if you throw yourself into it. I started with that once a week...then twice a week. Then added another strength (conditioning) class, then added more. Now I exercise 5 or 6 times a week every week (for the past 4 months) with a mixture of cardio and strength classes and some home sessions with kettlebells/dumbbells. Having been doing this for a few months now I'm really seeing the difference, I feel amazing, I have visible muscles, I'm noticeably stronger. I'm early 50s.

Start taking mounjaro. It should help your cholesterol and pre diabetes too, hopefully,
Carry on doing your long walks and quit alcohol and sugar (if you drink). That should do the trick.

I was similar but 50.
I had 5 days where I actually stopped, pretty much l, eating all food - I was just addicted to sugar, cheese, crisps etc and we have a free canteen at work - totally free and have as much as you want - so it has been (post covid )me piling on the weight.
We had moved earlier this year to a house with stairs and I had been struggling to walk up them etc
I wouldn’t recommend anyone just stop eating food but I did and so I had a few days listening to my body. When I started eating, I now do small meals. DH is 6 ft plus and eats huge meals and I just decided to eat much less.

Smaller plate but same meal I’m eating maybe 1/3 of what I used to. Someone offers cake -I’m just having a coffee.
I have 3 stone left to go (2 stone done)

I started on the random 10,000 steps a day and doing couch to 5 K in September but already 2 stone lighter and I can get up and down those stairs easily. For me it has been changing the type of food and the amount of food.

I also listen to my body- I was raised to finish everything and now I get to 75% full and go - ok I’m nearly full and I stop. I have reduced a lot of sugar in my diet.

For multivitamins, I had years of starting and stopping and forgetting to take them etc and I now have two adult gummy bears that are multivitamins I have them with my morning coffee and it feels like a nice treat to start the day! 😆

Good luck. For me it was realising no one is coming to do this for me.

The weight you lost didn't 'all come back on for some reason'. You ate too much - chronically and consistently.

Sorry to be harsh, but I don't see much in your post acknowledging this, and you'll struggle to lose the significant amount of weight you want to lose without realising you need to eat a lot less.

So start eating less today. Eat smaller portions, or less calorie dense foods, or skip a meal a day - whatever works for you. But eat less.

Actually aqua fit is something I have never tried . That’s a really good idea.

Wait, what? Reducing calorie intake results in weight loss? I HAD NO IDEA

I'm going to tell all the other fat people in the UK right now because I'm sure they've never, ever heard this, and I'm also sure that now you've drawn our attention to it we'll find it eminently doable.

Thank you. THANK YOU. Thank you so much.

Reducing calorie intake does result in weight loss. It really is that simple I'm afraid. Generally speaking, anyone thinking they are in a calorie deficit but still struggling to lose weight is either overestimating their calorie requirements, or underestimating their calorie intake.

I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for you repeating that a bit more loudly so that I can hear you properly with my big fat ears.

@KPPlumbing OK, seriously. Why am I annoyed by what you have said? Well, it's not because I don't think it's true that if you reduce what you eat you'll lose weight. It's because you have not taken any notice of what OP has actually said.

She has not said "I don't understand why I've gained weight because I think I'm in a calorific deficit".

Or, "I don't understand how to lose weight, please explain the biological mechanism whereby excess fat is burned and weight comes down".

What she has said is, "I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to lose weight this time because life has been hard and stressful. How did you turn yourself around and become more healthy?"

EDT: so she's looking for people who have been in the same situation as her to tell her how they improved things, for other people's lived experience of things having got better for them. She's not looking for a lecture on basic weight loss science (particularly not since she's managed to lose a large amount of weight in the past, as she says in her OP - as you'd see if you'd read it properly, so presumably she'd got the memo on reducing calorific intake back then...)

I think you need to ask yourself why you've ignored all of that and behaved as if she's a simpleton who just doesn't know that eating less means you lose weight.

I’m identical to you OP including age, size, pre diabetic , raised cholesterol etc been overweight for last 30 years , but it took a very nasty dose of long covid to really make me up the stakes as I was seriously frightened. I saw a neurologist and she told me that weight was causing some of the things and to immediately instigate the following -

1. Went virtually gluten free ( I’m not coeliac but had a clear intolerance that affected my nervous system)

1. Cut carbs to 70mg or less a day , meaning I rarely have cake, sandwiches, pies, biscuits - even gluten free ones .

3 massively increase water drinking - I have 1 coffee a day , water, green tea and a very occasional Diet Coke

4 at least 10,000 paces a day plus 2 dance excercise classes a week , Zumba etc

5 take vit D, omega 3 daily and a good multi vit 4 times aweek

6 stick to 1200 cals a day in week and 1600 at weekends ( I use the extra for wine)

7 I try to only eat 2 meals a day - 1 I have around 11am and the other around 7pm - I don’t have any snacks at all .

1. I eat a lot of salmon, prawns, chicken, Longley farm cottage cheese, 5% Greek yoghurt , eggs , salad, veg etc - I do eat berries and bananas but watch how much - it’s not a cheap diet I admit!!

9 weigh yourself every week - if up 2lb then tighten up for a week like after holidays etc - I had t weighed for 3 years!!

I’ve lost 2 stone in 5 months - I did try mounjaro initially for 5 weeks but hated the side effects so went cold turkey and am losing at same rate, my bloods are much much better, no longer pre diabetic , cholesterol down somewhat .( probably would be more so if I gave up alcohol totally)

it is slowish I admit - feels like it takes forever but it is doable . I also take GLP1 Berberin herbal tablets every evening . Slight appetite suppressant and good on blood sugar .

If i can add, i always ate well, i like cooking, was never a big snacker but yes it takes will power . My issue was big meals in an evening , was plating up identically to my 13 stone 5 ft 10 husband, so ive adjusted that too . I keep a packet in of chocolate covered chewy bar things called skinnies in an absolute emergency need for sweet stuff - which are80 cals and pretty ok

Mounjaro, gym classes several times a week, walking more, fewer takeaways and more cooking from scratch. Also drinking a lot less. But tbh, the Mounjaro has made it easier to do all of those things (except for the gym)

Unfortunately it’s 80% diet, 20% exercise or the weight loss injections. I started exercising but did my knee and foot in so had to give up classes which I was enjoying.

I joined Slimming World and am a stone down since March so far with another 3 to go. It’s been up and down but I’m taking it slowly as I don’t want to give up wine and eating out/takeaways. I’m just making different choices re; food ie; fish with veg/salads, Greek yoghurt 0% with strawberries/fruit for desserts, chicken Shaslick for Indian or a chicken shish without the pitta bread etc. I’ve had to more or less give up all carbs except the odd roast potato and whole wheat pasta once a week. I do have a cake once a week too and the slimming world choc/oat bars in the evening if I fancy something sweet. In fact i still have everything but in much smaller quantities or not so often.

Even at a stone down, my clothes fit a bit better and I feel a bit lighter so can walk a bit faster. Health benefits start at 10% weight loss. Could you start at aiming for that otherwise it can seem overwhelming.

So, basically the motivator for me has been my health and mobility deteriorating and I don’t want the pressure on my knees and joints to get worse. Once I’ve lost another stone or two, I’m hoping to return to aerobic classes as I like working out in a group to music.

Unfortunately although whole grains and pulses are really good for you and full of fibre, they’re also high carb.

@oliverreed I find carb wise as I try to stick to less than 70 a day what I do tend to do and are good for fibre too is often have a couple of nairns gluten free cheese oatcakes with my cottage cheese as they are whole meal oats - and 5g each. I also often have a couple of potato croquettes or cauliflower Rosti with my salad as 180 cals for 2 and around 22g carb . It’s a lot lower than plates of pasta but has that nice savory mouth feel.